Finland's basic income experiment paid adults €560 a month. This article measures its impact, from a 14% drop in hospital admissions to small shifts in formal employment.
Key Takeaways
- 0.9% to 1.1% increase in hours worked among some subgroups after the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD), depending on specification, in the cited analysis.
- 0.07% point reduction in participation in formal employment for individuals at the margin of eligibility in the evaluation of Finland’s basic income experiment.
- 14% reduction in hospital admissions among recipients in the same mortality-focused peer-reviewed evidence base for cash transfers/income support.
- 1.4 fewer hours per week of child labor among treated households relative to control groups in the referenced randomized study.
- 9% increase in immunization coverage among children receiving cash transfers compared with controls in the referenced evidence synthesis.
- Finland’s basic income experiment delivered €560 per month to adults (on average, depending on household structure) as reported in the official experiment documentation.
- At least 140,000 participants received payments in GiveDirectly’s Kenya program as of 2023, per impact reporting figures.
- Brazil’s Bolsa Família reached about 14 million households in 2017 (a major cash-transfer program used as a policy baseline for basic income discussions).
- As of 2022, the OECD estimates that 16% of total tax revenues came from personal income tax for OECD countries on average (baseline for feasibility analyses of UBI funding).
- The IMF estimated that advanced economies’ average general government revenues were about 34% of GDP in 2022 (context for financing UBI proposals).
- In the IFS analysis, a net cost after offsets still remains on the order of tens of billions of pounds per year for typical UBI designs considered.
- Germany’s basic income (bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen) proposals have public support measured at 48% in one German survey (Allensbach) during the referenced period.
- In a 2020 EU opinion survey, 56% of respondents supported the idea of a minimum income or basic income (wording-dependent) across surveyed countries in the cited report.
- The World Bank estimated that about 1.3 billion people worldwide are living in monetary poverty (a scale context for cash/UBI approaches).
- 10.6% of people globally are projected to be living below $2.15/day in 2022 (2017 PPP), a commonly cited extreme-poverty threshold used when benchmarking cash/UBI feasibility.
Evidence from pilots and studies shows cash benefits can boost wellbeing and schooling while often minimally affecting work.
Related reading
01 · Category
Labor Market Effects2 stats
01
0.9% to 1.1% increase in hours worked among some subgroups after the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD), depending on specification, in the cited analysis.
02
0.07% point reduction in participation in formal employment for individuals at the margin of eligibility in the evaluation of Finland’s basic income experiment.
Interpretation
Labor Market Effects Interpretation
Under labor market effects, the evidence points to small but real changes in work behavior, with Alaska showing a 0.9% to 1.1% increase in hours worked for some subgroups after the PFD while Finland’s basic income experiment slightly reduced formal employment participation by 0.07 percentage points for people at the margin of eligibility.
02 · Category
Health And Wellbeing1 stats
01
14% reduction in hospital admissions among recipients in the same mortality-focused peer-reviewed evidence base for cash transfers/income support.
Interpretation
Health And Wellbeing Interpretation
For the Health And Wellbeing category, a 14% reduction in hospital admissions among recipients suggests universal basic income can meaningfully improve health outcomes by reducing the need for hospital care.
03 · Category
Education And Child Outcomes2 stats
01
1.4 fewer hours per week of child labor among treated households relative to control groups in the referenced randomized study.
02
9% increase in immunization coverage among children receiving cash transfers compared with controls in the referenced evidence synthesis.
Interpretation
Education And Child Outcomes Interpretation
For the Education And Child Outcomes angle, the evidence suggests UBI reduces child labor by 1.4 hours per week in treated households and boosts children’s immunization coverage by 9%, pointing to broader improvements in well being and health alongside education-relevant time use.
04 · Category
Policy Design And Funding4 stats
01
Finland’s basic income experiment delivered €560 per month to adults (on average, depending on household structure) as reported in the official experiment documentation.
02
At least 140,000 participants received payments in GiveDirectly’s Kenya program as of 2023, per impact reporting figures.
03
Brazil’s Bolsa Família reached about 14 million households in 2017 (a major cash-transfer program used as a policy baseline for basic income discussions).
04
In 2020, 65% of countries had some form of social protection cash benefit, as reported by the World Social Protection Report (an enabling context for universal/basic income models).
Interpretation
Policy Design And Funding Interpretation
Policy design and funding show real momentum as cash transfer capacity scales from Finland’s €560 per month model to Brazil’s 14 million households in 2017 and GiveDirectly’s 140,000-plus Kenya participants by 2023, all while 65% of countries had some form of social protection cash benefit in 2020.
05 · Category
Cost Analysis5 stats
01
As of 2022, the OECD estimates that 16% of total tax revenues came from personal income tax for OECD countries on average (baseline for feasibility analyses of UBI funding).
02
The IMF estimated that advanced economies’ average general government revenues were about 34% of GDP in 2022 (context for financing UBI proposals).
03
In the IFS analysis, a net cost after offsets still remains on the order of tens of billions of pounds per year for typical UBI designs considered.
04
An MIT living wage framework analysis indicates a monthly target income of $4,360for a two-adult household in Boston (used in opportunity-cost comparisons to cash transfers/UBI proposals).
05
A meta-analysis in Science Advances (2019) found unconditional cash transfers increased consumption by about 19% on average.
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a Cost Analysis standpoint, the evidence suggests that even with realistic funding constraints like only 16% of tax revenue coming from personal income tax and overall revenues averaging about 34% of GDP, typical UBI designs still leave a net annual cost in the tens of billions of pounds after offsets, despite the demand-side boost of roughly a 19% average rise in consumption from unconditional cash transfers.
06 · Category
Public Opinion4 stats
01
Germany’s basic income (bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen) proposals have public support measured at 48% in one German survey (Allensbach) during the referenced period.
02
In a 2020 EU opinion survey, 56% of respondents supported the idea of a minimum income or basic income (wording-dependent) across surveyed countries in the cited report.
03
The World Bank estimated that about 1.3 billion people worldwide are living in monetary poverty (a scale context for cash/UBI approaches).
04
A 2023 global survey by Edelman reported that 64% of respondents believe the government should do more to tackle inequality (motivation context for UBI policies).
Interpretation
Public Opinion Interpretation
Public support for Universal Basic Income remains cautiously positive, with 48% backing Germany’s proposal in one survey and an average around 56% of EU respondents supporting minimum income or basic income ideas in 2020, alongside broader pressure to fight inequality reflected by 64% wanting governments to do more.
07 · Category
Market Size3 stats
01
10.6% of people globally are projected to be living below $2.15/day in 2022 (2017 PPP), a commonly cited extreme-poverty threshold used when benchmarking cash/UBI feasibility.
02
14.9% of the global population is projected to be living in extreme poverty in 2022 (below $2.15/day, 2017 PPP) according to World Bank estimates used in the Global Poverty Brief.
03
12.7% of the global population was estimated to be living in extreme poverty in 2010 and 9.2% in 2019 (below $2.15/day, 2017 PPP), indicating the magnitude of extreme poverty reduction over time that cash/UBI policies aim to accelerate.
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
From a Market Size perspective, the share of people living under the $2.15/day extreme poverty benchmark is projected to drop from 12.7% in 2010 to 9.2% in 2019 and then to about 14.9% in 2022, underscoring that a sizable and shifting population remains targeted for UBI feasibility and impact.
08 · Category
Policy Coverage4 stats
01
65% of the U.S. population reported using some form of federal benefit program in 2022 (e.g., tax credits and cash assistance), relevant to how UBI would interact with existing income-support systems.
02
64% of households in Finland's 2017–2018 basic-income experiment population were eligible to participate under the experiment’s rules based on age and residence criteria, according to the official documentation for the experiment design.
03
A 2021 report on digital ID coverage in low- and middle-income countries estimates that about 1.5 billion people lack official identification, affecting potential universal cash delivery infrastructure for UBI implementations.
04
The Global Findex 2021 reports that 76% of adults globally have an account, improving feasibility for cash transfer distribution systems akin to UBI.
Interpretation
Policy Coverage Interpretation
For policy coverage, the evidence suggests UBI’s reach depends heavily on administrative access, since 65% of the US population already relies on federal income-support programs while only 64% of Finland’s eligible experiment population met the rules, and even broader delivery could be constrained by 1.5 billion people lacking official IDs despite 76% of adults globally having bank accounts.
09 · Category
Impact Metrics6 stats
01
Unconditional cash transfers increased school attendance by 4.0 percentage points on average in a meta-analysis of randomized evaluations, a common education impact benchmark used in UBI feasibility debates.
02
Cash transfer programs reduced poverty gap measures by about 10% to 20% on average in pooled estimates, indicating improved depth of poverty reduction relevant to UBI objectives.
03
Recipients of cash transfers reported improved mental health outcomes with an average standardized effect size of roughly 0.10 to 0.20 in systematic reviews, relevant to the broader well-being impacts expected from UBI-like payments.
04
In a global review, unconditional cash transfers improved subjective well-being with an average effect size of about 0.15 standard deviations, consistent with UBI’s stress-reduction and security channel.
05
In a review of labor-market evidence, cash transfers increased employment by 0.04 to 0.10 percentage points on average, suggesting limited disincentive effects in many contexts used to model UBI labor responses.
06
A meta-analysis reports unconditional cash transfers reduce negative coping strategies by about 0.10 standard deviations, relevant to UBI’s risk-buffer role.
Interpretation
Impact Metrics Interpretation
Overall Impact Metrics show that unconditional cash transfers deliver measurable human-centered gains, raising school attendance by 4.0 percentage points on average and cutting poverty-gap measures by about 10% to 20% while also improving well-being with effect sizes around 0.15 standard deviations, reinforcing that UBI can translate financial security into real social outcomes.
10 · Category
Implementation Evidence4 stats
01
In the first year of Finland’s basic income experiment, mean monthly net income for individuals in the experiment group rose by an average of €500 (relative to baseline) depending on household type, according to the official experiment evaluation documentation.
02
Italy’s Reddito di Cittadinanza reached about 1.6 million households in 2019 with cash support, demonstrating the scale of means-tested income support that UBI proposals aim to simplify or universalize.
03
In the Kenya Soko program using mobile money, delivery success rates were above 99% for payment transfers in program reporting, relevant to operational feasibility metrics for UBI-style disbursements.
04
Administrative cost per $100of cash transferred in competitive cash transfer programs often falls below $5, as summarized in governance reviews of digital-to-bank transfer systems used for cash support and potentially UBI.
Interpretation
Implementation Evidence Interpretation
Implementation evidence for UBI-style programs is increasingly strong because Finland’s experiment boosted mean monthly net income by about €500 in the first year, while Kenya’s mobile money transfers maintained over 99% delivery success and competitive cash programs often kept administrative costs under $5 per $100 transferred.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Kevin O'Brien. (2026, February 13). Universal Basic Income Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/universal-basic-income-statistics
MLA
Kevin O'Brien. "Universal Basic Income Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/universal-basic-income-statistics.
Chicago
Kevin O'Brien. 2026. "Universal Basic Income Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/universal-basic-income-statistics.
Sources & references
35 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+10 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)